Two Commencement Week stars, one of America's leading playwrights, the creator of the theory of plate tectonics and Harvard's most prominent 20th-century philosopher will be among the recipients of honorary doctorates awarded during today's Commencement exercises.

Eleven honorary doctorates, lauding luminaries in fields including science, religion, government, music and philosophy, will be conferred by President Neil L. Rudenstine following the awarding of degrees to the College's Class of 1997.

The honorary graduates include chemist Sir Edward P. Abraham (Doctor of Science); Secretary of State and Commencement speaker Madeleine K. Albright (Doctor of Laws); psychology professor Jerome S. Bruner (Doctor of Science); and Christian scholar Sir Henry Chadwick (Doctor of Divinity).

Others to be honored include epidemiologist William H. Foege (Doctor of Science); Class Day speaker and music producer Quincy D. Jones Jr. (Doctor of Music); playwright Arthur Miller (Doctor of Letters); Princeton geophysicist W. Jason Morgan (Doctor of Science); and economist Janet L. Norwood (Doctor of Laws).

Two Harvard professors, Conant University Professor Emeritus John Rawls and Stone-Radcliffe Professor Emerita Emily D.T. Vermeule will also be awarded doctorates.

The honorary graduates were celebrated at a dinner held in their honor last night in Annenberg Hall.

Sir Edward Penley Abraham

Abraham was a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford from 1948-80 and Professor of Chemical Pathology from 1964-80. He has been both Emeritus Professor and an Honorary Fellow at Oxford since 1980.

Abraham has been a leader in the field of antibiotics since World War II, when he was part of the Oxford research team that first isolated penicillin. Later, Abraham and his assistant discovered a second group of antibiotics that became as important as penicillin in controlling bacterial infection.

In recognition of his numerous scientific accomplishments and awards, Abraham was knighted in 1980.

Madeleine K. Albright

Albright will receive her honorary degree during this morning's ceremonies and then take the stage again in the afternoon to give the keynote address of the Alumni Exercises.

An expert on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, she entered government service on the staff of the National Security Council in 1978. In 1993, she was tapped as the U.S.'s permanent representative to the United Nations.

Albright succeeded Warren Christopher to become the first female Secretary of State in January of this year. (See story, page A-5).

Jerome S. Bruner

Bruner has been a leader in the formation of cognitive psychology and has examined extensively the influence of culture on human cognition--how the way we live affects the way we remember and think.